A blog by Luke Akehurst about politics, elections, and the Labour Party - With subtitles for the Hard of Left.
Just for the record: all the views expressed here are entirely personal and do not necessarily represent the positions of any organisations I am a member of.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Wednesday

An interesting but varied evening yesterday.

First of all, the London Region Political Committee of Amicus, where we had a good discussion about how to strengthen the union link by getting workplace reps of the union to get involved in the Labour Party as Amicus delegates to their GC. Anyone got any best practice on how to get this happening they can share?

Labour Party NEC Member Mike Griffiths, our National Political Officer, was guest speaker and, in advance of the merger result, stressed that the merged union musn't just be the one with the biggest voice in the Labour Party, it must be the one that gives the most support by putting the most campaigners on the streets at election time. An early priority is anti-BNP work in Sandwell in the run up to the 3 May local elections.

Afterwards, a dash across town to a fundraising dinner for two of the hardest campaigning Labour MPs - Jim Knight and Chris Bryant. Speaker David Miliband stressed that although their two constituencies - Rhondda (Lab maj 16,242) and South Dorset (Lab maj. now up to a comparatively large 1,812) they actually have more in common than might be apparent - both have very active campaigning CLPs, both have MPs whose local work meant they increased their majorities in 2005, and they need each other - The Rhondda can only get a Labour government if we win in South Dorset, and South Dorset needs heartland voters in The Rhondda to keep faith with Labour.

Also there were Labour bloggers Tom Watson MP who was on good form ribbing me for my support for Hazel Blears and Leighton Andrews AM who asked which Luke Akehurst blog I was the author of (very funny).

3 Comments:

Andrea said...

"South Dorset (Lab maj. now up to a comparatively large 1,812) they actually have more in common than might be apparent - both have very active campaigning CLPs, both have MPs whose local work meant they increased their majorities in 2005"

I think Ed Matts actually helped a lot in increasing Labour majority in South Dorset

Of course most Amicus reps are not members of the Labour Party - thus the difficulty of finding people from the Regional Sector Conferences eligible to be delegates to the Regional Political Conference. I have seen little enthusiasm amongst union activists to join the Labour Party to become GC delegates.

Just out of interest Luke, which Amicus Branch delegates you to Hackney North CLP?

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About Me

Labour Party activist since 1988 - firmly on the moderate wing of the party. Member of Labour’s NEC 2010-2012. National Secretary of Labour Students 1995-6. Parliamentary candidate for Aldershot (2001) and Castle Point (2005). Hackney Councillor (Chatham Ward) 2002-2014, Labour Group Chief Whip 2002-09, Chair of Health Scrutiny 2010-2014. Supporter of Europe, NATO/nuclear deterrence, Israel, electoral reform. Guardian reader. Dad. Oxford resident. Unite union member. Employment history as a Labour Party Organiser, Local Government Political Assistant, Director at a Public Affairs company. All views expressed in a personal capacity. The rest will become evident from reading the blog.